Adams Outdoor Advertising described its request to replace a wooden billboard with a digital one as overcoming a hardship under Middle Smithfield Township's zoning ordinance.

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By DAVID PIERCE

poconorecord.com

By DAVID PIERCE

Posted Jan. 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By DAVID PIERCE

Posted Jan. 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

Adams Outdoor Advertising described its request to replace a wooden billboard with a digital one as overcoming a hardship under Middle Smithfield Township's zoning ordinance.

Neighbor John Petrizzo called the proposal a massive over-reach violating the intent of the 2010 zoning update.

Adams Outdoor presented its request Tuesday to the township zoning hearing board to replace the billboard on Ed Regina's property at the corner of Route 209 and Hollow Road, just south of Middle Smithfield Elementary School.

If the zoning board approves variances next month to the zoning ordinance, the case will go to township supervisors for a conditional use permit for a larger, electronic advertising sign.

The current 240-square-foot, single-sided billboard — which would be replaced with a 288-square-foot, double-sided digital billboard — was erected by the Reginas in the 1960s, well before the township's first zoning ordinance in 1977. It has been grandfathered in as a nonconforming but allowable use.

The current billboard, if built today, would be too close to the roads, too close to other billboards and too close to residences to meet zoning provisions. The ordinance does allow digital billboards with conditions.

The current billboard meets most of the conditions for a conditional use digital permit, including the size requirement, Adams attorney Victor Cavacini argued.

"That gives rise to a hardship," Cavacini said. "We want to put a sign in essentially the same place as the existing nonconforming use."

The exact location would be moved one to three feet, he said, to satisfy concerns by the township planning board that a higher digital sign would interfere with overhead power lines. Its leading edge would be moved from 10 feet from the roads, to 12 feet away.

The digital sign would have an automatic dimmer to control glare and adjust for time of day and weather, Adams Vice President for Real Estate Lois Arciszewski testified. It would be tied into automatic state, federal and police emergency messages warning of wrecks, storms or crimes.

"It will actually improve the neighborhood," Cavacini said, a statement disputed by Petrizzo.

The sign would be within 264 feet of one residence, though the current ordinance calls for a 1,000-foot separation. It would remain about 359 feet from another billboard on the same side of the road, violating the ordinance's 1,000-foot separation.